Third Carnatic War

The Third Carnatic War was fought from 1756 to 1763 as the Indian theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War between Britain and France. Robert Clive's decisive victory at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, which brought Bengal under British East India Company control, took place during this same period and shifted the wider balance of power in the Company's favor, while French forces under the Comte de Lally suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 that broke French military strength in southern India. French hopes were further undermined by the fall of their main settlement at Pondicherry to British forces in 1761. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763, which returned Pondicherry and other trading posts to France but stripped them of fortifications and left the French confined to strictly commercial activity, cementing British ascendancy in India.